ISSN:
1573-322X
Keywords:
common property
;
resource management
;
forests
;
Himalayas
;
Uttarakhand
;
collective action
;
institutions
;
new institutionalism
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
,
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
,
Philosophy
Notes:
Abstract Most writers on resource management presume that local populations, if they act in their self-interest, seldom conserve or protect natural resources without external intervention or privatization. Using the example of forest management by villagers in the Indian Himalayas, this paper argues that rural populations can often use resources sustainably and successfully, even under assumptions of self-interested rationality. Under a set of specified social and environmental conditions, conditions that prevail in large areas of the Himalayas and may also exist in other mountain regions, community institutions are more efficient in managing resources than either private individuals or the central government. In advancing this argument, the paper undermines the often dogmatic belief in the universal superiority of private forms of ownership and management.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01965667
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